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420 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2013
”victor vale was not a fucking sidekick.”
“plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human"
”when no one understands, that’s usually a good sign that you’re wrong.”
“Some could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labelled a villain for trying to stop them.”
“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
“Victor was out. Victor was free.
And Victor was coming for Eli - just as he'd promised he would.”
“But it's a trade, Professor, with God or the devil...”
“There are no good men in this game.”
“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone could be labeled a villain for trying to stop that person. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.
The difference between Victor and Eli, he suspected, wasn't their opinion on EOs. It was their reaction to them. Eli seemed intent to slaughter them, but Victor didn't see why a useful skill should be destroyed, just because of its origin.
“Tell you what,” said Victor. “You remember me, and I'll remember you, and that way we won't be forgotten.”
Safe had ceased to be a place for Sydney. It had become a person.
Specifically, safe had become Victor.
“I don't need a bodyguard,” said Victor.
“I noticed that,” said Mitch.
Victor let out a cough of a laugh. “Yes, well. I don't want everyone else to notice too.”
“So what do you want?” he asked.
Victor's lips curled into that same dangerous smile. “A friend.”
...something about Eli was decidedly wrong. He was like one of those pictures full of small errors, the kind you could only pick out by searching the image from every angle, and even then, a few always slipped by. On the surface, Eli seemed perfectly normal, but now and then Victor would catch a crack, a sideways glance, a moment when his roommate’s face and his words, his look and his meaning, would not line up. Those fleeting slices fascinated Victor. It was like watching two people, one hiding in the other’s skin. And their skin was always too dry, on the verge of cracking and showing the color of the thing beneath.For their Comprehensive Science Seminar thesis, Eli unexpectedly chooses the topics of EO: ExtraOrdinary people. People with special abilities, specifically, how science...biology, chemistry, psychology...could explain their existence.
Victor was out. Victor was free.It took me awhile to realize that this book took place in a pseudo-alternative universe. It's still the current world, as we know it, but it's more like a comic book world, because these EOs are not just theoretical. They're not exactly famous, but it is known that these people exist. It confused me a bit until I realized this fact, because this world seems so similar to our own that it is a little bit of a shock to the system to hear people---specifically, science professors, who are accepting and actually receptive to the idea of a thesis involving people with special powers.
And Victor was coming for Eli—just as he’d promised he would.
He sunk the shovel into the cold earth with a satisfying thud.
“What gives you the right to play judge and jury and executioner?”Eli has always been somewhat religious, it's a contradictory fact about him that Victor finds fascinating, but it is as if he becomes a hypocritical fundamentalist Christian in his rock-solid belief of fulfilling his God-given duty out of nowhere. He did suffer through some traumatic events in the beginning of the novel, but I felt that it was insufficient in explaining his personality changes. It's not enough. It turns Eli from a villain with a potentially complex inner darkness into just another fanatically religious, self-righteous trope.
“God.”
“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
“I want to believe that there's more. That we could be more. Hell, we could be heroes.”